Does Everybody Scroll? You Need to Find Out for Yourself

Scroll depth is one of the most important considerations for any website, affecting everything from content strategy to design. The digital industry thrives on new research and methodologies, so we were intrigued by a new case study from Huge showing how different design cues can entice users to scroll through website content.

Our own work at 352 Inc. requires striking a balance between above-the-fold and below-the-fold content, and we constantly feel the pain of building a content strategy that will draw users through a page. Since every new insight helps us push our own work forward, we wanted to examine some of the work we’ve done and compare it to Huge’s findings.

As expected, their case study provides an in-depth look at affirming design decisions, but it also reminds us to rely on our feedback loop from actual end-users to ensure our design hypotheses actually work in practice.

Not Everybody Scrolls

Huge’s study specifically tested the visual cues that entice users to scroll to page content below the fold: a scroll arrow to indicate further content, a short image that leads users down the page to view full above-the-fold content, and an animated element that draws users below the fold.

In all tests, more than 90% of users scrolled at least a little bit, and in three tests more than 90% scrolled to the bottom of the site. As Huge says in its study: Everybody scrolls.

This data definitely affirms what many of our designers already knew — choosing the right scrolling cue is incredibly important to ensure users find the content they need.

To track the effectiveness of those cues, we use Google Tag Manager to track scroll depth across 352inc.com and our client sites. We looked at a few of our sites that are designed similarly to the site Huge tested (with a large above-the-fold image), and we consistently find that only about 40% of end-users make it more than 75% down a page. That’s not necessarily bad, but it definitely isn’t as high as the 90% threshold found in Huge’s user testing.

This isn’t surprising: ask 10 designers about above-the-fold content, and you’ll get 10 different answers. And this is why it’s so important to establish a solid data loop that starts with user research and culminates with end-user data.

The Start of the Chain

I asked Krissy Scoufis, our Associate Director of User Experience, to break down what the case study meant for our UX designers and clients. She explained that designers are of split opinion when it comes to scrolling, but scrolling has become so ingrained in how we interact with online content, it’s practically a natural behavior. Huge’s findings are very much aligned with our view that if users see value in scrolling, they will scroll.

Since all of the visual cues performed so similarly — and well — we know that designers will have incredible freedom to design a scrolling cue that is consistent with the design of any particular site, as long as further user testing and data supports the decision.

We see a disconnect between Huge’s results and our own data because user testing only reveals a part of the picture.

The Difference Between Testers and Users

When conducting your own usability tests, it’s important to remember the distinction between testers and end-users. User tests — even un-moderated tests — rely on a tester’s motivation to fully complete a task. Huge didn’t share the parameters of its user tests, but we know they created a scenario that would reflect that of a real user.

In her article, Rebecca Gordon of Huge recognizes that the visual cue is far from the only factor that determines scroll depth on a page, and user testing can help a designer choose the best form of every element on a page. However, we can always take a more comprehensive view of data to ensure that every element of a design is working in concert.

Testers provide incredible feedback when deciding if a single design element can be improved, but it’s important to remember that user testing in a vacuum can lead designers astray.

A More Comprehensive Experience

The beautiful thing about digital products is that we can test, track and iterate upon them endlessly. Our testing chain starts with user studies like Huge’s to ensure each element operates at its highest level, and extends to track the behavioral patterns of end-users with the final product.

Data and ongoing research allow us to determine how a customer feels, how they react to elements of a site, and provides a plan by which UX designers and marketers can make iterative changes to improve our websites.

So if you’re only focusing on little bits of the user experience, you’re missing the big picture. The new wave is customer experience, which offers a broader view of user data to capture a full journey throughout your site.

The big takeaway here is to test everything at every opportunity to figure out the best ways to improve the experience you provide your users. There is no definitive proof of user behavior other than user behavior.

Huge Implications

As digital strategists, we are all striving to create the best experiences we can, so every new insight elevates the entire industry. Case studies like this always offer a fresh opportunity to examine our own work and learn from our peers, so we’re excited to see what comes next.